Blood Orchid (Holly Barker 3)

“I’ll stay on the line until they’ve caught up,” Harry said. “I’m in radio contact.”

“I’ve got a radio, but I don’t know if we’re on the same frequencies.”

“You’re not,” Harry said.

“Uh-oh, Trini just hung a right.” She followed and gave Harry the street name.

“My guys are getting off the interstate now, headed east.”

“Then they’re probably a mile or so behind me. Tell them to step on it; they can slow down when they see me.”

“Okay.”

“Trini’s turning left.” She gave him the street name.

“One car thinks he has you in sight,” Harry said.

“Tell him to pass me,” Holly replied. “Hang on, Trini is stopping. Stand by.” Holly drove slowly past Trini’s Explorer and saw him go into a shooting range, a different one from where she had seen him before. She gave the name to Harry.

“Okay, we’ve got it. You get out of there,” Harry said.

“Will do.”

“Now, you and I have to meet; I want to see that notebook. You go back to I-95 and head south; I’ll head north. There’s a Burger King about twenty miles down the interstate.” He gave her the exit number. “I’ll meet you there in, oh hell, I don’t know, half an hour, an hour?”

“I’ll have a burger,” Holly said. She hung up, made a couple of turns, and headed back toward I-95.

38

Holly was polishing off a double bacon cheeseburger when Harry walked in with another agent. He got something to eat and joined Holly, while the agent took another table.

“Why do you guys always have to look like FBI agents?” she asked him. “You’d think J. Edgar Hoover was still alive.”

“You’re not telling me he’s dead, are you?” Harry asked, looking alarmed.

Holly laughed. “No kidding, the least you could do is dress like somebody who lives in Miami.”

“I dress like a banker who lives in Miami,” Harry said. “Let me see the notebook.”

Holly put her bag on the table and fished it out.

Harry stuck his finger in the hole in her purse. “Did you forget to draw before you fired?”

“I didn’t have time. I figure the FBI owes me a really good handbag.”

“If I like the notebook, you can send me a bill,” he replied, opening it.

“Look at the dates,” she said. “He kept track of everything, along with who.”

“I’ll send it to our lab,” Harry said, turning the pages. “They’ve got code people.”

“Harry, a six-year-old could figure it out.”

“They ought to see it anyway.”

“Show it to a six-year-old!”

“Can we put Carlos with Pellegrino at any time?”